Shinobi of the Night Sky
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Naruko was having a bad day when suddenly a book she's had forever reveals it's secrets. Now she has to balance magic with chakra as the Master of Reinforce! Can she become a true shinobi after the Book drains her to the point of being bedridden, or is she in for a long haul ahead? And can she keep her newly created family together in the dark days ahead?
1. Chapter 1

It had been such a normal day. Then again nothing was ever normal for her.

Naruko Uzumaki, the container for the Kyuubi no Youko, had been having a really crappy day. It all started nice enough, her legs moved like they should for about five hours...then came jutsu practice.

Her lower limbs locked up without warning, causing her to misfire her jutsu. What's more was that even though the Hokage had her checked (repeatedly, by standing over the medic shinobi to insure the reports weren't being altered) no one could figure out what was going on.

And it only happened when she used jutsu.

She lay on her bed, trying to figure out why she always messed things up.

Tomorrow was the worst day of the year, because it was the start of the Kyuubi festival. She hated it, because she always had trouble with the drunken idiots who went.

As her battered clock hit the twelve, she felt something awaken.

_**ANFANG. (Start)**_

The odd book, which was bound in chains that she had gotten for her birthday five years ago, broke the bindings keeping it closed as the pages flipped as if touched by an invisible wind.

A bizarre circle appeared on the floor and four figures appeared.

Each of them were in a strange uniform, and had weapons. One almost looked like a wolf of sorts with his ears.

"_The Book of Darkness has Awakened,"_ said the oldest one, who had long flowing dark rose hair that was held in a pony tail. Around her neck was something that looked like either a dagger or a closed ended kunai.

"_We are the Knights who collect magical power for the Book of Darkness and our master,"_ said the blond woman.

"_It is our mission to accomplish our master's goals,"_ said the lone male.

"_We are the Wolkenritter, please give us your orders,"_ said the youngest one.

Naruko was in shock. However, her ability to tell friend from foe said that these four wouldn't hurt her.

The fact they hadn't started screaming about demons also helped.

"Ano...who are you people?"

"We are the Guardian Knights who protect the Master of the Book of Darkness. We exist to protect that person alone, and to complete the book," said the 'leader'.

"And who is the master?" asked Naruko.

"You are," said the other woman, who had blonde hair like ripened wheat. It was barely down to her neck, and she had rings on a single chain necklace.

"Huh?!"

"You are the Master of the Book of Darkness," said the youngest one, a girl with bright red hair that was held back by twin pigtails that were braided a little past her neck. She had a hammer necklace around her neck.

"EH!?"

Naruko's poor brain short circuited and she passed out from shock.

* * *

By morning she awoke to find that no, it wasn't a dream and there were people now in her apartment that she didn't know. Along with what appeared to be a blue-furred Inuzuka-type wolf.

"Ano, who are you people?" asked Naruko carefully.

"Master, are you alright?" asked the rose-haired one.

"It's not Master. My name is Naruko! Uzumaki Naruko, and I'm gonna be the next Hokage!" said Naruko firmly.

"Naruko-sama," started the rose-haired one.

"Just Naruko. I hate formalities with a passion," said Naruko.

"Naruko-chan," the woman tried.

"That works," said Naruko.

"Naruko-chan, perhaps you should explain to us about this world. And in return we shall explain the Book of Darkness to you," suggested the rose-haired one.

"Okay! But Jiji knows more than I would, so you can ask him! But first, what are your names?" asked Naruko. Better to let Jiji know about them before the ANBU picked them up by mistake.

"My name is Signum, Knight of the Blade," said the rose-haired one.

"Shamal, Knight of the Lake and reinforcement specialist," said the blonde.

"Vita, Knight of the Hammer," said the girl.

"Zafira, Guardian Beast," said the wolf.

"Call me Naruko! Or Naruko-chan if you have to use formalities."

* * *

Sarutobi had a massive headache, and poor Naruko was the cause of it.

"So let me get this straight. You came out of the odd book we found at the sight of where the Kyuubi was taken down."

"We are part of the Book of Darkness," said Signum.

"And you four are samurai-shinobi hybrids who live to serve the master of this Book of Darkness," said Sarutobi, rubbing his poor head.

Signum nodded.

"Naruko, for whatever reason, was picked as your new master, but since she knows very little about this world and knew better than to try and work behind my back she brought you here," said Sarutobi.

Signum nodded again.

"Right...Horse, bring me the strongest sake you can find and some migraine relievers. I do believe it's going to be one of _those_ days..."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"While we wait, why don't you explain in detail what the difference is between chakra and magic and we'll work from there. And Naruko, why don't you take...Zafira, was it? Why don't you take him to get some ramen and put it on my tab?" said the Hokage.

"Ramen! Come on Zafira, you'll love it!" said Naruko.

Signum could tell this man was a warrior, and almost as dangerous as she was. While she and Sarutobi spoke of magic and chakra, finding out that the two were so similar that it was hard to tell the real difference, Shamal and Vita were undergoing a minor interrogation by Anko and Ibiki. Signum was going to be cleared by the Hokage and Zafira, well he had been in wolf form so they didn't bother with him. Hence why Signum didn't make a fuss while her 'Master' went to get something to eat. So long as one of them was with her, she would come quietly.

* * *

"So Naruko-chan, where did you find this wolf?" asked Ayame.

They lived in a ninja village. Once the initial shock he could talk passed, they treated him like they would any other intelligent animal. Inuzuka occasionally came with their partners, so they had wolf-sized bowls already there.

Zafira was right behind Naruko eating his own bowl while she devoured over ten.

"They found me!" said Naruko.

"They?" said Teuchi.

"Signum, Shamal, Vita and Zafira!"

"And where are the others?"

"Being cleared by Jiji! Their arrival was a bit of a surprise, but I'm sure Jiji can keep them out of trouble!" said Naruko.

* * *

"They're cleared, Hokage-sama," said Anko.

Vita looked ticked, and Shamal looked rather nervous.

"Signum-san is cleared too," said the Hokage.

"Can we see Naruko-chan now?" asked Shamal. Her nerves were frayed after dealing with Anko's unique...humor...for over an hour. She would never look at snakes the same way again.

"You'll find her about three blocks down, and if I know her, still arms deep in ramen," chuckled Sarutobi.

"Have I answered your questions, Hokage-sama?" asked Signum. She felt this old one deserved her respect.

"Yes. About that suggestion earlier..."

"They can start tomorrow while we prepare our new lodgings," said Signum.

"Excellent. I'll fill out the forms," said the Hokage.

_'Signum, what is that about?'_ asked Vita.

_'You and Zafira will join Naruko-sama at the Academy until she graduates. Zafira will have to take a smaller form though.'_

_'What about me?'_ asked Shamal.

_'The Hokage said that since Naruko's apartment couldn't possibly hold all of us, he will allow us to take an abandoned house as our own provided we take part in "missions" like the local military here.'_

_'And me?'_ asked Shamal.

_'When I described you ability to heal, he suggested you help out at the hospital and learn their "medical jutsu". From what I understand, jutsu is their form of magic,'_ said Signum.

They paused when they reached the stand, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Their new master had at least twenty bowls and counting stacked around her while Zafira was almost done with three.

_'What in the...?!'_ said Signum.

_'This...ramen...is both highly addicting and good. Our master appears to have quite a taste for it,'_ commented Zafira without pausing.

Signum took a spot next to Naruko, while Vita took the other. Shamal found the last stool open near them and sat down.

"So how did your talks with Jiji go?" asked Naruko.

"It went well enough. Vita and Zafira will join you at school tomorrow while Shamal and I move your things. Because your apartment is too small, the Hokage has agreed to loan us a house that has been abandoned until now," said Signum.

"Yay!"

* * *

"Everyone, I want you to welcome a transfer from outside the village," said Iruka.

The official story was that Signum and Vita were from Uzushiogakure and had come looking for Naruko. Since they weren't about to leave their 'family' behind they choose to move here with their friend Shamal. Zafira was listed as Naruko's new shinobi partner, having found him in the Forest of Death yesterday.

No one was going to disprove this, as Uzumaki were known for red hair, Zafira looked and acted like an Inuzuka nin hound, and Shamal...well she could use medical jutsu. And since Uzushiogakure was destroyed during the last war, it was unlikely that anyone would be able to disprove it.

Vita walked in, having been given new clothes to blend in better. She kept her hair in the twin braids, and her hammer remained around her neck.

"Meet..."

"Uzumaki Vita, Yoroshiku," said Vita.

"Eh?!" the outcry of Naruko the failure having a relative was pretty loud.

"No way! The failure has family?!" said a pink-haired girl with deep green eyes. The look Vita sent the girl gave her shivers.

"Naruko happens to be my cousin on her mother's side," said Vita. She tried to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Uzumaki-san, could you please sit next to your cousin?" said Iruka.

"Hai," said Vita. Naruko was practically bouncing in her seat.

Vita was practically swarmed by the other students at lunch. Fortunately Zafira took over protecting Naruko for her...plus this was an excellent exercise in telepathy.

"So Uzumaki, where did you find a ninken?" asked Kiba. His new puppy, Akamaru barked on his head in hello.

"I found in him in one of the training areas! His name is Zafira!"

"Nice to meet you Zafira," said Kiba.

"Hello," said Zafira.

"HE TALKS TOO?! Man you're lucky! You know how hard it is for use to find talking ninken?" said Kiba enviously.

"So is Vita-san really your cousin?" asked Chouji.

"Yeah, they showed up yesterday but apparently the gate guards were on a break so they had to wait a bit. But since they're planning on staying here I get to move in with them!" said Naruko.

"Sounds like fun," yawned Shikamaru.

Suddenly they heard a commotion from inside the Academy. Apparently Vita had gotten into a scuffle with Sakura over something the pink-haired girl said about Naruko. The teachers were having trouble pulling Vita off of her.

"Vita-chan, are you okay?" asked Naruko.

"I'll be fine," said Vita annoyed.

"Uzumaki-san, no fighting outside the practice ring or in training!" said Iruka. To be fair, some of the comments Sakura made about Naruko did warrant some sort of violent reaction. As a teacher, however, he tried to hold himself about those. At least against the students anyway.

Sakura looked like hell. A bruise was clearly about to form on her right eye, and she had been scratched up by Vita repeatedly. Vita had struck hard and fast.

"Sorry...sensei," said Vita.

"Stupid brat! Why did you attack Sakura-chan!?" demanded Ino shrilly. Several of the other Sasuke-fangirls agreed with the blond.

"Where I come from, we don't take people insulting our clan lightly. Be glad I didn't break your arms for that remark you made about Naruko-chan," snarled Vita.

_'Vita, what exactly did they say about Naruko that angered you so much?'_ asked Zafira.

_'If I told you, Naruko-sama would get into trouble for you maiming them,'_ replied Vita. She was still pissed as hell.

_'I told you, call me Naruko-chan!'_ said Naruko. She had been listening the whole time, which was why she knew what had been said. She was just used to it by now.

"Since this is your first day here, I'll let this pass for now Uzumaki-san. But in the future, please wait until taijutsu practice to take out your anger on any comments made," said Iruka.

"Yes Sensei!" said Vita a little _too_ eagerly for the girls to feel safe. Training was about to get a lot more painful for them.

* * *

_Time skip, two months later..._

The arrangement with the Hokage seemed to work perfectly. And as an added bonus, Naruko seemed to benefit from the situation as well...because she was being trained by Signum in how to use a sword.

Plus, with the addition of Signum and Shamal's wages, Naruko was finally starting to eat better. And with Vita and Zafira protecting her at the Academy and outside of it, the mobs no longer were able to hurt her.

However, not all was to her benefit. The strange problem with her chakra control, which had been irritating before, had grown to alarming levels. Now she was having trouble with more than just the clone jutsu. Her illusions were starting to fail as well.

And four months since the arrival of the Knights, Naruko started to feel numb from her legs down.

The Knights knew what was causing this, but because of the arrangement made with the Hokage to protect their master, they could not act in the Elemental Nations without bringing war down upon Naruko.

Which meant they had to travel off-world to save her.

"This may anger our Master," said Signum.

"Naruko will understand, I know it," said Vita. She was among the closest to their Master, next to Zafira.

"Still, it is troublesome that we must go off-world to fill the pages," said Zafira.

"But it is to protect our Master, we have no choice. What I would like to know is why the book's draining program hasn't acted up before now?" said Shamal.

For a young girl, she had been relatively unaffected by the book's nastier issues, such as the linker core draining, which was supposed to be quite severe. For it to take this long to truly affect her...was quite surprising really.

"How many pages will we need?" asked Vita.

None of them had so much as looked at the book since they had settled in, being more concerned about the villagers and protected Naruko.

That was why Shamal, who was usually designated the keeper of the Book, was very taken aback when she checked the status.

"What's wrong Shamal?" asked Signum.

"Over a hundred pages... there are over a hundred pages filled already!" she said in absolute shock.

"What?!" said Signum. She took the book, and look at it herself.

One hundred and thirteen pages were filled already, and most of it was chakra-based. Which meant the jutsu library had to have come from Naruko during the initial synchronization with the Book.

"How is this possible? I sincerely doubt Naruko even knows this many jutsu!" said Signum.

"Perhaps the Hokage would know," said Shamal. They were all quite shaken by this development.

"Should we ask him?" asked Vita.

"Later. Right now we need to start collecting," said Signum. They could solve this mystery later.

With a flash, they all vanished to another world.

The Book of Darkness had to be completed, if they were to protect their Master.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruko's condition quickly grew worse, not better over time. It became apparent that whatever caused her to freeze up while using jutsu had progressed to a more deadly stage.

Within seven months of their appearance, Naruko had slowly lost the ability to walk. Needless to say she was quite unhappy about being forced to use a wheelchair to get to class. While it had excused her from actual practice, she still had to do the theoretical work.

It was driving her crazy that she couldn't walk anymore.

* * *

"So, any idea what's causing this paralysis?" asked the Hokage. Shamal was working at the hospital as usual when he showed up. He had allowed them to take long breaks from missions once they told him why.

"Frankly we were surprised it took this long. She must have had a very strong linker core for it to have taken this long to physical affect her. Her problems using jutsu and her sudden inability to walk stem from the same source."

"And that is?"

"The Book of Darkness. It has been draining her linker core all this time, or her chakra I suppose. Ever since the book awakened, the drain has gotten worse, and now it has reached the point where it's affecting her physically."

"Can it be reversed?" asked Sarutobi. If not, then that book was going to be destroyed.

"If we can complete the Book, the draining properties _should_ be stopped, and possibly reversed. But we aren't too sure about it," said Shamal.

"How do you intend to complete it?"

"We drain the linker cores or chakra memory from others and add it to the book. Not all of it, mind you, but enough that they won't be able to defend themselves for a while."

"I see."

"So far we have been going off world to keep suspicion off Naruko-chan and your village. But there is always a chance someone will pick us up and try to stop us," said Shamal.

"Then might I make a small suggestion?" said Sarutobi. From what he understood, they were draining jutsu knowledge in a manner similar to the Uchiha with their Sharingan, only directly rather than through the eyes.

* * *

"Eh?! Signum-nee, you joined the Hunter Division? Sugoi!" said Naruko.

"The Hokage suggested it," said Signum.

His idea was that they split between draining mages/animals and draining missing nin. Since from what he understood, draining tended to make molding chakra near impossible for at least a week, they could make some money off of it by draining shinobi who had bounties and turning them in alive. It had the added benefit of adding to their coffers and helping Naruko out.

At the moment, Signum was being sent to Mizu no Kuni as a way to contact the Resistance there. She could use that time to drain some jutsu from the Mizukage's forces and earn them an ally.

It was a win-win for them, and it meant Naruko would be safe.

* * *

Vita was on NAW #97 (Non-administered World, meaning the TSAB had no real jurisdiction there. The Elemental Countries was considered NAW #109) when she hit their first snag.

The TSAB finally took notice of their activities of late.

_'Signum! I need help here!'_ Vita shouted through their link.

_'Vita, what's going on?'_ asked Signum.

_'The TSAB is more active on this planet than they were before! There's at least one Enforcer nearby!'_ said Vita.

_'Hold on, I'm coming,'_ said Signum.

Zafira was still with Naruko, as per their rules. One always had to stay behind with her, as a precaution. Unless she was spending the night with the Nara, Akimichi or Inuzuka anyway. They were the only three who let her spend the night. Tsume was quite interested in pairing Zafira with one of their hounds to see what they could get.

Zafira was still torn between avoiding her and Kuromaru, or protecting Naruko. It didn't help that Naruko laughed every time it was brought up.

Apparently she was of the opinion he needed to 'relax for a change'.

As Vita and Signum fought the two mages along with their support, Shamal was trying to absorb at least one of their linker cores.

Finally the one in white was caught in a bind, and Shamal managed to get her core. The one in black cried out in shock as she tried to rescue her friend.

The girl in white managed to get off one spell, but it was enough to break the barrier that Vita had placed earlier.

_'Everyone, retreat back to base!' _shouted Signum. They didn't need to get caught in a bigger battle with the TSAB when Naruko was still so weak.

Three streaks of light vanished from the planet. Unfortunately they were caught on camera...the TSAB now had confirmation that the Book was active again.

"Is it just me, or did the guardians look different than before?" asked Chrono.

"No, there was something very odd about their uniform," said Lindy.

Pictures came up on the screen, and the difference was noticeable immediately. All previous pictures of the Wolkenritter had them looking like, well, Knights.

This time they looked very different, but the main theme appeared to be movement and speed.

In fact when Nanoha looked at it much later, she would remark that they appeared to be ninja rather than knights. It was a rather odd clue that would come into play not much later...

* * *

"So you guys fought a girl my age? How good was she?" asked Naruko eagerly.

"She was very good, almost as good as us. But she was beaten by Shamal," said Signum. As far as Naruko knew, the girl was a missing-nin.

"Where is she now?" asked Naruko.

"She is being treated by her comrades, who managed to catch up to us. I felt it was better to retreat and try again later than attempt to fight her now."

"Wonder if I'll ever meet her," said Naruko. She yawned widely, so Signum helped her to bed. Naruko, the stamina princess of Konoha, was growing more and more tired lately. She was barely keeping up with the written portions of the Academy as it was.

Naturally this worried not only the Knights, but the Hokage as well.

* * *

_Four weeks later..._

Naruko's condition had gotten even more severe. Scans revealed that her organs were now in danger of the same affliction that kept her from walking.

Shamal came to the horrifying discovery that the cartridges she had been making were not from her magic, but from Naruko's own linker core. It explained the odd feedback they had been getting for a while now.

Oh course this was nothing to the reaction the Hokage had when he learned who one of their 'victims' was.

Apparently Signum had a run in with Itachi Uchiha himself, and managed to drain him almost dry. All of his jutsu and even parts of his Sharingan had been absorbed.

Finding out that the 'draining' could also absorb Kekkei Genkai had been quite a shock.

Signum had been more picky about her captures when they discovered that odd fact.

It was quite odd that over half the book was filled with jutsu, rather than spells for a change.

* * *

"Captain! I think we've narrowed down their base of operations," said Amy.

"Which world?" asked Chrono.

"Non-Administered World #109! According to records, while there is an established magical system in place, there is no set government for the TSAB to set up a branch office without causing issues," said Amy.

"Where exactly are they located?"

"According to scanners, their signature appears to be the strongest in the Village called Konohagakure, or Village Hidden in the Leaf."

"Is it possible to send an envoy there?" asked Lindy.

"Possible, but not recommended. Previous attempts at talks have never gone well because they were in the middle of different wars," said Amy.

"Get me all known reports on this planet, and we'll go from there," said Lindy.

Three days later, Lindy brought Fate, Nanoha and Yuuno onto the Arthra. She wanted them to try and establish contact with the leader of the village in hopes of resolving this peacefully.

The three mages came into the area and headed towards the gates.

* * *

"Welcome to Konoha. Can I see your travel papers?" asked Izumo.

"We don't have any papers. We were sent to see the village leader," said Nanoha.

"Now what could a trio of kids like yourself want with Hokage-sama? In any case, you would have to wait a while because he's gone to the capital and won't be back for at least two weeks," said Kotetsu.

The red head looked to her friends.

"What should we do? Lindy asked us to contact the leader," said the girl.

"Is it possible for us to leave a message and contact him once he's back?" asked the blonde girl.

"Leave it with us, we'll give it to him once he returns," said Izumo.

The red head scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to him. They would have to come back later to try and reason with the Master of the Tome of the Night Sky.

(Yuuno had found the true name of the book at Chrono's request.)

* * *

"You say they sent children to make contact?" said the Hokage. The truth was that he had never left the village at all. Not since Naruko had been hospitalized by that damn book.

"We told them you left for the capital. They'll be back in a few weeks," said Izumo. The children in question had absurd chakra reserves...at least the girls did. The boy had the chakra of a chunin at least.

"Hmm... Mouse, could you bring Shamal-san or Signum-san here?" said Sarutobi.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" asked Signum.

"We had some visitors earlier. Two girls and a young boy, both with higher than normal chakra signatures. Izumo, if you would?"

Izumo brought out the photos taken by the hidden cameras in the guard booth. Signum paled.

"I take it you know them?"

"They are members of the Time Space Administration Bureau. The same ones we have been trying to avoid for some time."

"I see."

"They may attempt to stop us from completing the book," said Signum.

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed.

"I will not allow that. If what you say is true, then that blasted thing needs to be completed before it infringes further on Naruko's health," said Sarutobi.

"Hunting nuke-nin has helped considerably, since no one has tried to prevent us from doing so, however our attacks on mages have drawn some unwanted attention. As it stands, we still have two hundred pages to fill before it's complete."

"I may have another suggestion for that..." said Sarutobi.

Signum went from cell to cell of the Interrogation department and drained the chakra memories of the prisoners in there. Thankfully the book tended to skip over duplicate admissions, which meant they only recorded jutsu that haven't been added before. Still, it was slow going.

She only got fifty pages from the T and I prisoners because there were quite a few double entries. Her visit to the land of Fire shinobi prison added thirty more.

With only a hundred and twenty pages left to fill, the time was drawing close before Naruko took on the full mantle as the master of the Book of Darkness.

* * *

Two weeks passed, and the trio returned...only this time there were two others with them. One was a woman with lime green hair, and the other was a boy wearing what was clearly a military uniform.

"Welcome back. The Hokage is currently in the village at the moment. I hope you don't mind but he said that we had to get some ANBU to escort you to there," said Izumo calmly. Better not to cause a panic, especially after word had spread that the affliction Naruko had was now much worse. Most of her upper body had been paralyzed now.

Unlike half the village, Izumo and Kotetsu liked Naruko, because she was always worth a good laugh.

"That's fine," said the older woman. Five ANBU appeared and lead them straight to the Hokage tower.

"So, you are the TSAB. Signum has told us about you and your organization," said Sarutobi.

Chrono stiffened. He wasn't expecting the village leader to be on speaking terms with one of the knights. He clearly knew who the master was then.

"I wish this meeting could have come under better terms," said Lindy, hiding her surprise well.

"What are your intentions towards Signum and the others?" asked Sarutobi bluntly.

"To be fair, we just need to stop them from completing the book. Every time it's been filled completely, the book goes berserk and causes widespread damage and even death. If possible, we would like to either fix the problem, or destroy it so it won't harm others again. The fact they have yet to kill anyone while draining them is a point in their favor."

"I see. There is one small issue with that request. The one who actually _owns_ this book and lives with the Knights is currently in the hospital and bedridden from it's effects. Recently it has grown so bad that she cannot move her body below the heart."

Lindy looked suitably alarmed.

"Is it possible for us to look at her? We might be able to hit two birds with one stone if we do."

"Only if you allow some of my trusted men and at least one of the Knights to go with you. They're the only family she has," said Sarutobi.

Her condition was very critical. So much so in fact, that he was willing to give these people a chance. Nothing they had done (or even the Kyuubi inside of her for that matter) had effected her condition.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruko, when she reached the TSAB ship, was immediately carried to the infirmary. Her condition was critical.

Kakashi, Zafira and Vita all went with her to the room, and stayed out of the way. Signum had allowed it under the same conditions the Hokage had, mostly because if the book wasn't completed soon Naruko could likely die.

The Book of Darkness (Tome of the Night Sky) was being examined while the doctors tried to alleviate even a small bit of Naruko's condition. Signum was currently talking to Chrono during this time.

"What's her condition?" asked Kakashi once the scan was over.

"The book appears to have bound over fifty percent of her body. It's a miracle she's lasted this long."

"_I think you all should come see this,"_ said Mary, who had just finished her scan of the Book of Darkness.

* * *

"The Book of Darkness, formerly the Tome of the Night Sky, is dangerously broken. The Defense and Reincarnation programs appear to have infected most of the book, resulting in the dangerous levels of draining from the master. If it had been completed in this state, it would have killed her within hours of finishing it."

"WHAT?! But completing it should have saved her!" said Vita.

"I'm afraid not. There's also the issue of three Knights having been added within the last year. If it had been completed, then they would have been erased by the next master."

"Three Knights? But there have always been four!" said Vita in shock.

"They were added during the initial awakening. According to this, their spells were added alongside the limited amount given to each master," said Mary.

"What can we do to fix the book?" asked Kakashi.

"We need Naruko-san awake long enough to activate Administer Rights so we can replace the corrupt programs. Then, once the book is filled the damage should reverse itself fairly quickly."

"The only problem is that Naruko hasn't been awake for over a day because of pain," said Kakashi.

* * *

Naruko did finally awake three days later, when the pain had subsided to reasonable levels (for her).

"What... what do I...need...to do?" she gasped.

"We need you to stay awake long enough to activate Administer Rights. Once the programs are replaced, the pain will stop," explained Lindy.

"Take me...to...the book," said Naruko. She wanted this over with!

"Activate...Administer Rights..." said Naruko. She was trying to hold back tears from the pain of sitting up.

_**(Administer Rights Active.)**_

"Replace...Defense and...Reincarnation...programs...with new...systems."

_**(Replacing programs with new systems. Replacement complete.)**_

"Register new...name."

_**(Name Registry now open.)**_

"Blessed...Wind...Reinforce,"said Naruko, before passing out.

_**(Blessed Wind Reinforce, now registered name. Please call me that from now on.)**_

The book stopped floating on it's own and fell back into the cradle Mary had it in.

Naruko was rushed back to the infirmary, where she stayed for two days before she could wake up. When she replaced the reincarnation program, she also halted the corrupt file that had been slowly killing her.

"How many pages are left?" asked Signum later.

"Only fifty," said Chrono.

"What of the two that stole Testarossa's linker core?" asked Signum. She was still furious about that, because she hadn't wanted it that way.

"We have a lead on those two. If you help us, we can arrest them and put an end to this."

"We'll help. Those two had no right to butt into our fights," said Signum with a growl.

* * *

A week later (the binding on Naruko had started to reverse faster than most would have guessed, aside from Kakashi) Signum and the others were laying a trap for the two men who had interfered on the desert planet.

Naruko was nearby, because she didn't want to be left out again. The pain had subsided enough for her to sit up in a wheelchair now.

She wanted to see this through to the end.

She was about to wheel closer to the fence when she sensed someone behind her.

"So you are the little Master of the book," said a male voice.

The hairs on the back of her neck went up.

"I wonder how the Knights will react with you hostage?" asked another.

"No! Let me go!" cried Naruko, as the first one pulled her out of the chair.

"NARUKO!" screamed Vita.

_**(Master. I can load the other Knights, if you like.)**_ came the telepathic voice of Reinforce.

"LOAD KNIGHT PROGRAM! RELEASE!"

_**(Knight Program Release initiated. Now Awakening Knights.)**_

The twin men who held her hostage were in shock. They had thought that all the Knights were released already...then again Zafira had never actually shown up in any of the battles. Not directly anyway.

The magical circle of Reinforce formed under Naruko. It became a bloody red color as three figures formed around her.

"_We are the Wolkenritter who serve the master of the Tome of the Night Sky,"_ said the female who had bright red hair down to her backside. She had two hair pins on each side of her face that framed her features. Her outfit looked remarkably like an ANBU uniform, only her mask was a fox.

"We shall protect and serve the master of the Tome, even if it costs us our life," said the male. His hair was the same shade as Naruko's, only it was spiky and he had side burns. On his back was a long cloak with flames along the bottom. He had a mask as well, only his was a toad.

"_**Our life is bound to our Master, and our souls shall leave with hers,"**_said the third figure, who appeared to be a Guardian Beast like Zafira, only he had fox features rather than a wolf. He had no mask, but he did have nine long red tails like flame.

"_**We are the Guardian Knights of our Master, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruko!"**_ the three intoned as one.

"Impossible! There are only supposed to be four Knights!" said the first man.

"Where did they come from?!" said the other.

"Are you hurt, Naruko-chan?" asked the woman.

"Who...who are you? You seem really familiar..." asked Naruko. The woman helped her back into the wheelchair while the other two Knights looked at the 'men' with a glare.

"We'll explain that once this is over with. Right now we have to deal with these fools," said the woman gently.

"Who are you three?" asked Signum. The fact they had saved Naruko and had the same energy as them was the only reason that she hadn't attacked them on sight.

"We are like you, only we were absorbed the same time Naruko awakened as master," said the woman.

"We couldn't come out until the defense program was fixed and Naruko released the Knight program," said the blonde man.

"Where did you come from?" asked Shamal. The new Guardian beast was keeping the fakes very busy.

"We came from the seal that is on Naruko's stomach. It had a rather...interesting reaction to a safety feature than had been left on it. As a result, all three of us were given a second chance...including fuzzy over there," said the blonde man.

"_**CALL ME FUZZY AGAIN AND I SWEAR TO KAMI-SAMA I AM EATING YOU!**_" snarled the fox familiar.

"And risk being stuck in that seal again for who knows how long?" laughed the man.

The fox growled at him, clearly ticked off about something.

Eventually Chrono caught them, putting an end to the fox's fun. Still, the other knights didn't know what to think of the newest additions to their forces.

* * *

Kakashi's heart nearly skipped several beats when he saw the Toad and Fox masks. Their forms were far too familiar for it to be coincidence.

"Now, who are you three?" said Chrono.

Kakashi watched with baited breath as they removed their masks. The Guardian Beast beside them switched to his animal form, which nearly gave Kakashi a heart attack.

"Sensei...!" said Kakashi in shock.

"Sensei?" said Naruko.

"My name...is Minato Namikaze," said the blonde man. His eyes and hair were hauntingly familiar...because they were the same as Naruko's.

"I am Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze," said the woman. Her face was similar in many ways to Naruko.

"And you can call me the Kyuubi no Youko," said the fox. He looked like a smaller version of his full sized self.

"Where did you come from, exactly?" asked Signum.

"We came from the seal on Naruko's stomach. Originally we left chakra ghosts of ourselves in case Naruko ever released Fuzzy over here past eight-tails, but when the book absorbed her linker core when she awoke, it also absorbed us into the Knight Program."

"_**You do realize if I hadn't allowed it to happen in the first place, we would all be stuck in that damn seal,"**_ said the fox.

"Yes, but by doing so you allowed that blasted ailment to progress farther than it could have!" growled Kushina.

"Wait! You're the reason why Naruko suffered for months?!" growled Vita.

"_**Considering the other option was to fight it and lose any chance for her to have her parents back? Which do you think she would have chosen?"**_ said Kyuubi snarkily.

Kakashi had long since falled to his knees at this point. He knew this would be hell to write in a report...

Naruko was in so much shock that her parents were now her Knights that she passed out.

* * *

"So if I want to access the full power of the book then I have to complete it?" asked Naruko.

"There are several options. One is to use the moon of your world, which according to Kyuubi-san has some sort of demon sealed away in it. Another is to reseal the original four knights, which was how several previous owners completed it. Or you could continue hunting down criminals in your world which Signum has been doing," said Chrono.

"It surprised me that her village leader had such a simple solution no one could really complain about," said Signum.

It had surprised the TSAB as well. Aside from a few cases like Nanoha, Fate and a few other agents, the Knights had actually left the mages alone for the most part. That meant the number of crimes against them wasn't as large as it could have been.

"You could always go after S-ranked shinobi," said Minato.

When Signum managed to take Itachi's chakra, she had filled over twenty pages in a single hit.

"Or the kekkei genkai users, but that would be a little mean," said Kushina.

"Well there is a third option. The book was originally made to catalog things, right?" said Naruko.

"Yes. The original function was to catalog and preserve magic, before one of the previous masters altered the programs, which resulted in this mess."

"Well then can't I continue training to be a shinobi and catalog it later?"

"Your magic power will be drastically reduced, and you'll only be able to use a fraction of the spells at a time until it's complete. But you can begin mage training without finishing it," said Mary.

"Well, it's not like there's any real rush to complete it," admitted Signum.

Now that the program that had been harming Naruko was gone, there was no reason to rush it's completion.

* * *

"Welcome ba...Naruko! You're awake!" said Kotetsu.

"Hey, Kotetsu, Izumo!" said Naruko. Signum was pushing her wheelchair this time.

For the moment, the three Knights Minato, Kushina and Kyuubi were in the Arthra getting used to magic rather than chakra.

"Welcome back Naruko, Signum."

"The situation has been resolved, Hokage-sama. Naruko will be on the path to recovery and will be able to rejoin the Academy withing a month or two," said Shamal.

The look of relief on the Hokage's face was obvious.

"Ne, Jiji, how come you never told me I had the Nine-Tails in me?" pouted Naruko.

Sarutobi choked on his drink.

"Naruko, who told you?" he asked in return.

"Fuzzy did," said Naruko bluntly.

"Fuzzy?" said Sarutobi wincing.

"OW! Shut up already! Fine, he said his name is Riku-something and that he's got a few things he would like to say the councils...specifically whatever idiots keep insisting I'm him," said Naruko, wincing at the volume level.

"You can talk to him now?" said the Hokage blankly. This was a bit early...

"According to the three new Knights that I had to unseal, the 'seal had a rather odd reaction to the books power, resulting in a faster than normal draining rate'," she said.

"Can I get someone in here to explain, please?" he asked with a whine.

"I'll get the new guy to tell you...let's just say his appearance will both answer a lot of questions as much as raise them," said Signum. This was going to be fun.

In the meantime, Naruko was taken home for the first time in nearly three months. It had been a long time since she could lay in her own bed. She grabbed her favorite pillow (shaped like a fishcake, which was a joke gift from the Ichiraku's for her birthday seeing as how her name was one letter away from being called 'Naruto'.) and immediately fell sound asleep.

And landed right inside her seal. Because of the book, the two had met up much earlier than expected.

Which meant she planned to get some training done.

"_**Dammit brat, what have I said about calling me Fuzzy?!"**_

Naruko stuck her tongue out at the Fox. Most of his power was still bound behind the seal, but he could at least walk around now without setting it off.

Both of her parents were set free thanks to the Knight system, which meant the bars were much weaker.

However, in order to get any real power from his true self, the Nine-Tails had to work with Naruko, seeing as she was the one who could regulate the power in his 'familiar' form.

"_**Gaki, if you have to call me something, call me Rikudo Kurama,"**_ growled the fox.

"That's too long! Can't I just call you Riku? That way people won't know your real name!"

"_**I can live with Riku. But if you call me Fuzzy one more time..."**_

Naruko giggled.

"So how do I change this place again? No offense, but sewers aren't really nice to be in," said Naruko.

As Riku walked her through the steps, her mindscape slowly started to change.

First the pipes vanished and became giant streams of water. Then the bars changed to become a collar and armor around the Fox's neck. Soon the change became much faster as the walls became trees and flowers, her memories became stars in the sky, her emotions the sky itself, and her core the sun.

Riku sat down in the field of flowers with a sigh of bliss.

"_**Much better. At least now I can stretch around here,"**_ he said with a grin.

Naruko was tired from the work, so she curled up beside the giant fox and fell asleep. He covered her with one of his tails and took a nap himself.


	4. Chapter 4

_Time Skip, Naruko age thirteen..._

In the four years since becoming the master of Reinforce and opening talks with the TSAB in the village, there had been a dramatic change.

First was the 'return' of Naruko's parents, Kushina and Arashi Uzumaki. Their cover was simple enough...they had been deep undercover watch out over Rain because of the forces left behind by Hanzo. So deep undercover that the news of their daughter's illness had taken quite a while to get to them.

(Ironically enough, Minato's cover name was already on the registry. It was his way of ditching the paperwork to go on missions. He just dyed his hair the same red color as his wife.)

The next big change was that Signum and the other worked occasionally with the TSAB on missions. Mostly to pay for their crime of attacking mages, but it also served to open up negotiations with the Bureau.

(There was now a small building for shinobi to use to get to the nearest port. So far twenty-five of the Leaf forces had opted to work part time at the TSAB, mostly ANBU.)

Naruko's recovery meant she was allowed back in the Academy, to the disappointment of most of the girls. Mostly because where she went, so did Vita.

And Vita had it out for the Sasuke Fan Club ever since Sakura called Naruko's mother things not fit for polite company.

Needless to say Kushina was a little too eager to teach Vita a few things she could do to the girls should they try a repeat. The fact that Vita shared the same fiery temper as Kushina only made it worse.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruko!" shouted Iruka.

"Good luck Naru-nee," said Vita.

"Thanks, I'm going to need it," said Naruko.

She had missed out the first round of graduations because she had been bedridden, and the second because she was still in recovery. This was her first chance to become a ninja.

"Clone and replacement Naruko," said Iruka.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" she said gleefully.

For the first time in years, her chakra worked as it should. Five clones appeared, and after two took a chalk to the head, proved to be solid. (Thrown by Iruka.)

She was so giddy about it working that she replaced with a not-so-amused Mizuki.

"PASS! Congratulations Naruko!" said Iruka.

"YAY~!" Naruko said happily, as she tied it around her forehead the same way Arashi did.

(The name Minato was banned from the limits of the Elemental Nations for security reasons. Offworld he was Minato Namikaze, on-world he was Arashi Uzumaki. Naruko thankfully picked up on this rather quickly.)

"Uzumaki, Vita!"

A shout of "Pass!" was heard past the doors and she plopped down in her usual seat between Naruko and Hinata, one of the rare girls she didn't threaten on a daily basis.

Hinata was one of the extremely rare girls who didn't have a serious crush on the Uchiha. And the fact she never once insulted Naruko or her mother meant that Vita approached her asking if she wanted to be friends.

The end result was that Hinata had started to lose her timid personality, as she had been the one to help Vita cope with Naruko's illness until she recovered.

"Come back in two days to get your team assignments," said Iruka.

* * *

"Wonder why we have to wait two days," said Naruko.

"One day to recover, another to actually insure the instructors will be there," said Arashi without looking up from his book.

"Recover from what?"

"Too much partying...homicidal camera nin...the usual," said Arashi. He did peek over his book to see their reaction to the camera shinobi bit though.

"Homicidal..." started Vita.

"Camera Nin?" ended Naruko.

From their looks they believed he was joking.

"Too many graduates and the camera nin in charge of taking your photos for the shinobi ID get really stab happy."

"Stab happy?" growled Vita.

"Like I said, the first day is to recover from partying, the second for them to gather the instructors. Camera shinobi are just an expected hazard if there are too many. Though with the amount of fan girls he'll have to deal with, I would recommend getting there extremely early before he starts to contemplate his kunai."

The policy when it came to official photos was first come, first serve. Meaning the earlier and more spaced out you were, the happier the camera worker was. Part of the reason they were so irritable was because the type of camera used to take the photo ran on their chakra, meaning it was being drained each time.

It was a little known trick to insure authenticity, as each photograph had a little bit of chakra in it.

It had caught more than a few spies that way.

"But first...Celebratory Ramen!" said Kushina.

"RAMEN!" cried Naruko with glee.

Kushina had a similar predatory look in her eyes. Apparently ramen addiction was genetic.

* * *

Naruko stood outside the training area set aside for magical training. This was because most of the 'spells' she had were very destructive. Plus it was secluded and isolated enough that anyone who hadn't registered to use it got into serious trouble.

She had an automatic slot for training there because of how strong she was.

"Fly through with the Blessed Wind! Reinforce, Set Up!" said Naruko.

Her barrier jacket was slightly unusual, as it had copious amounts of orange and black. Her hair was held up in twin pony tails by two large black bands. Around her arms were two long black 'sleeves' which covered her arms and were heavily armored so she could block attacks. They were lined with orange strips. Her shirt was a bright orange and had a single black tie going down the center. The shirt opened up slightly at her navel, which allowed it to flutter in the breeze. Her bottom half was a dark black skirt with an orange belt that had the Uzumaki red swirl as a buckle. Two lone strings came down from the swirl.

The skirt she wore was pleated, much like a school girl's summer uniform. Her boots were like the arm bracers she wore, in black lined with golden orange.

On her back were golden wings.

To top it off, this wasn't the full jacket. This was just the base model for the moment. Reinforce was still in the staff (which is basically the same as the anime form) until the book was filled completely.

Naruko couldn't wait to see what her jacket would look like once she could properly Unison with Reinforce.

Today was target practice. For four days out of the seven, Naruko practiced her magic. Two days were spent on jutsu practice and the last was her day off. Because of the time spent in recovery, Naruko had to pace herself until she was fifteen. That was the deal made by Arashi, Kushina and Shamal.

"Blaster Mode, Release."

**(Blaster Mode Active. Current record: 108. What is your current target range today Master?)** came Reinforce's voice.

"Let's try 120."

Naruko had adopted Nanoha's little practice with the can, hitting it repeatedly in order to keep it in the air. Only she used old shuriken instead of an aluminum can and the purpose was to keep the shuriken spinning on the stands.

It sometimes deviated to Fuuma Shuriken, to their largest variant (rarely seen, but still used in the field) which only people with more than a passing fancy towards weapons used. Those shuriken were often the same size as the one throwing it, each blade half their height.

(In order to put that into perspective, imagine the sight of four Zangetsu-sized blades in the form of a shuriken being thrown by Ichigo. Get the idea?)

Today she was working with Fuuma Shuriken. This regulated power and aim.

"And shoot!" said Naruko, aiming three balls of silver-white light at the shurinken. She closed her eyes and visualized each shot. She could hear the blades spinning on the stand around the thick nail that held it in place. This was to both spin it and keep it from flying off if spun too quickly and harming any one practicing with it.

**(20. 30. 41. 53. 64. 75. 81. 98. 100. 107. 109. 113. 118. 120. 125. 130. Final count: 134.)**

"14 more than expected. What grade would you give Reinforce?"

**(B plus, my Master.)**

"Why a B?" said Naruko pouting.

**(Time between hits was not consistent. Aim of exercise is to keep constant assault on target. Also, power output for this exercise was too high.)**

"Meanie! You of all people know I have control issues!"

**(Is no good for you to rely on Riku-san or myself for power control,)** said Reinforce.

Riku (the Fox) was the nickname he was saddled with after telling Naruko his true name, mostly because he didn't have a choice. Fortunately Naruko was aware of the issue with true names when it came to beings of power, like the Nine-Tails and his brethren, which was why she called him Riku instead.

Considering it was far less degrading than most of the names he had been saddled with over the years, he allowed it.

Naruko finished her usual training and went home, still pouting.

It wasn't her fault that she had trouble with basic chakra control! At least she could water walk!

She still giggled whenever it was brought up Nanoha and Fate. Apparently neither of them had heard of such an exercise, and they still couldn't walk up trees with their magic.

* * *

"Any idea who we're getting?" asked Naruko.

"I know we'll be paired together because of a certain 'requirement', but chances are we'll get stuck with the Uchiha too," said Vita sourly.

Naruko, because of her missed days due to illness, was at the lowest of the graduating class. Vita was at the top, having beaten out Haruno by sheer luck.

"Ugh, I hate that tradition. Because of that stupid incident I'm stuck at the bottom and that damn Uchiha is at the top!" growled Naruko.

The only good thing about it was that the Uchiha never taunted her for being dead last because of how quickly she had to catch up. The fact she even graduated despite that handicap was impressive enough in his mind. And Vita was always the strongest of the girls there, so he respected her, if only a little.

The problem was that Sasuke was still an arrogant little ass, which meant Naruko could barely stand him on a good day.

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruko! Uzumaki Vita! Uchiha Sasuke! Your teacher will be Hatake Kakashi."

Vita and Naruko hive fived each other. It was a given they would be paired together because Signum had been quite adamant that Naruko be around at least one of the Knights at all times. Since Zafira was considered Naruko's ninken, it meant that the two could take shifts.

This was both for Naruko's protection...and in the event that her heritage came out in the Elemental Nations, for Sarutobi's hearing.

The second anyone learned she was the Fourth's daughter, the amount of headaches he would get would skyrocket. Having a secret guard around her at all times would cut down on the screaming he would have to deal with later.

* * *

Kakashi was not looking forward to this. Sure, he got three who would work together and some decent sparring partners to work with his device Chidori (named after his one signature technique as a joke), but he also had the most anti-social of the new genin. Thank kami Vita was immediately paired with Naruko instead of some damn fan girl. That was a headache he _never_ wanted to deal with.

He gave his usual introduction and waited. Vita went first.

"Uzumaki Vita. I like rabbits, foxes, flying, explosions and Ichiraku Ramen. I dislike those who disrespect our family, fan girls, and those that would use me or my friends for their own gain. My dream is to continue living with my family peacefully for as long as possible," said Vita.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes, fire, blades and being alone. I loathe fan girls and their screaming, the civilian council and their groveling and being compared to my clan even though they are long gone. My dream is to restore my clan's honor and possibly return it to full strength. Preferably with someone that is both strong and was never a fan girl of mine at any point," said Sasuke firmly.

"Uzumaki Naruko! I like books, my family, ramen, foxes and wolves! I hate people who judge you before they know you, those that can't see the scroll for the kunai, and hospitals! I want to become Hokage one day and protect my family!" said Naruko loudly.

Kakashi looked at the wolf.

"Zafira. I like walks, quiet and home cooking. I hate Tora the Fire Daimyo's Wife's cat, those that would threaten my master and being helpless to protect Naruko. I am slightly afraid of Tsume and her attempts to pair me with one of their breeding hounds and when it's that time of the month for her. My dream is to keep protecting Naruko," said the wolf.

"Now that that's settled, meet me at training ground 7 at eleven. Don't eat breakfast if you don't want to hurl."

Naruko turned to Sasuke.

"I wouldn't bother getting there early. Kakashi has a bad habit of making people wait for hours, even Jiji."

"Hn. Thanks for the warning," said Sasuke. He would bring a book or scroll just in case then.

* * *

"So who did you get?" asked Arashi.

"Kakashi. He said not to eat tomorrow unless we want to hurl later," said Vita.

"Word of warning, if Kakashi gets behind you cover your rear," said Arashi.

"Why?"

"One of my old training tricks on brats was to use the '1,000 years of death' which is a variation of a movie I saw when I was a chunin...personally I blame Jiraiya for dragging me into that theater."

"What was the movie?" asked Vita.

"_Little Nicky._ I think I can get a DVD copy of it," said Arashi.

As it turned out, Kushina had a copy on the shelf. One look at the pineapple scene was all they needed to know about the 1,000 years of death. They were still laughing while watching the movie though. Nicky simply wasn't cut out to be the next Satan...

* * *

_**(If you haven't seen Little Nicky, here's the basic gist of it. Satan has three sons and is supposed to step down from power. When he doesn't, the two older brothers escape to Earth, effectively freezing the entrance to Hell over. Nicky, the youngest and least evil son of Satan, is sent up to Earth to capture his older brothers. Later it's revealed the reason he isn't nearly as evil as his brothers was because Satan got really drunk during a Heaven/Hell mixer and slept with an angel. Nicky decides to stay on earth with his girlfriend.)**_


	5. Chapter 5

Naruko and Vita found Sasuke already waiting at the training ground reading. He apparently took Naruko's warning to heart, because it was a pretty big book in his hands.

*Yawn* "Morning Sasuke," said Naruko.

"Hn. Morning Naruko, Vita, Zafira. Any of you have breakfast?"

"Better believe it," said Vita. No way was she ditching breakfast.

Sasuke's own stomach rumbled loudly. Naruko reached into one of the seals on her pouch and tossed him a couple of apples.

(Arashi and Kushina had taught her all they knew about seals. She was roughly above most chunin in that subject.)

While he ate the apples, tossing the cores over his shoulder. When it hit eleven o'clock (about an hour after they showed up, all of them either reading or sleeping) Kakashi finally arrived.

Naruko looked right at Kakashi and said, "If you even think about using the 1,000 years of death on us, I will use Reinforce to punt you all the way to Kumo."

"I have something here from the Hokage," said Kakashi quickly.

He handed her a scroll...and she scowled.

"Damn. That doesn't mean I can't ask Vita to do it for me," she pointed out.

Kakashi had another scroll for her.

"Hmph. Signum would be very unhappy if she hears you use it. And I know you don't have a scroll for her," said Vita.

"I already handed them theirs," said Kakashi quickly.

"And my dad?" smirked Naruko. Kakashi winced.

"And Kushina-nee?" said Vita. Kakashi paled.

"Sasuke is fair game. Go after us, and you deal with them," said Naruko.

"Deal."

* * *

"I have to say...as far as shinobi go, you guys are fair."

Sasuke had been a pain in the ass to convince when it came to teamwork. Fortunately he did have _some_ common sense...even he knew being hit by Vita's giant hammer would hurt like hell.

Vita already worked with Naruko, and Zafira was considered her ninken anyway. All they had to do was get Sasuke to join the bandwagon.

Considering it was either join forces or get pummeled by a diminutive red-head with anger issues, Sasuke took the less painful route.

He still ended up tied to a post though.

"Do we pass or not?"

"Oh you pass, but clearly some of you need a lot more work before we go into the field," said Kakashi with an eyesmile.

"We pass? I thought we had to get the bells?"

"That was just a way to get you to fight amongst yourselves. Of course _had_ any of you been skilled enough to get it on your own and actually wound me, I would have recommended you for an apprenticeship with one of the other jounin. You wouldn't be on a team, but you would still be genin," said Kakashi.

That was actually the reason why they had the bells in the first place. Any genin able to get them and wound the jounin was automatically considered for apprenticeship if they couldn't handle being on a team.

"Now that we have that out of the way... Meet me here tomorrow at ten. We'll start our first team building exercise," said Kakashi.

Naruko untied Sasuke, who looked at them both in the eye and asked "Where in the world did you find such weird jutsu? I mean Kakashi had that barrier..."

"Not jutsu, spells. And once you prove you're ready to handle the responsibility of a device, we'll ask if you can have one too," said Naruko.

"What's a device?"

Naruko pointed to Vita's Graf Eisen.

"That is a device. They come in all shapes and sizes," said Naruko.

"I think I've seen one before. If I get my hands on one, can you show me how to use it?" asked Sasuke.

"Sure! What are teammates for other than to help each other through tough times?" asked Naruko, giving him a thumbs up.

* * *

Sasuke didn't want to be here. He had an apartment outside the Uchiha clan walls for a reason. He only came in here for the training grounds and to hopefully find the Uchiha library.

He walked past the familiar walls, biting down the pain of losing everyone as memories tried to come to the front of his mind. He stopped at the Uchiha shrine to the ancestors, which very few Uchiha every stopped to think about even when they were alive.

Even Itachi had never looked at it twice.

The only reason Sasuke knew about it was because he used to hide from Itachi's rather irritating fiancee whenever she came to hang off his traitor brother.

That was how he knew about the odd artifact in the shrine.

Sasuke went past the old seals, which only activated when one not of Uchiha blood came in to the shrine.

There, in the corner forgotten by everyone, was a rather plain looking Uchiwa fan. It was bright red for the most part, aside from the white on the bottom.

It resembled the Uchiha clan crest, which was probably why it was in there to begin with.

Sasuke picked it up. When he little, he had once taken it out of the shrine and cleaned it. But no one had ever praised him for his efforts at keeping a family artifact in good repair.

So he put it back where he found it.

Sasuke picked it up again, and felt the same odd tug that had been there the first time.

"What was it that Naruko said? Set Up?"

_(I am ready to serve again, My Master)_ came a voice.

Sasuke nearly dropped the fan in his hands.

"Did you just talk?!"

_(Yes, My Master. I am Amaterasu's Light.)_

"You can call me Sasuke."

* * *

Naruko was the first to noticed Amaterasu's Light. Apparently it had a lot of magical power in it, almost as much as Nanoha's Raising Heart had.

"So...how do I activate this thing?" asked Sasuke.

"I'll show you later at the Mage training grounds. Jiji said no overt magic use unless it's in the specified training grounds. The last thing we need is little kids trying to duplicate the spells we use."

"In the meantime, how good is your hand to hand?" asked Vita.

Sasuke flinched at her gaze. Vita was known for being a real brute when it came to taijutsu, and her temper occasionally made her hit too hard if someone tried to insult Naruko or the Uzumaki clan.

Sasuke actually liked her, because she took insults to her friends and family seriously. Not to mention she could actually fight, unlike the majority of the girls in his class.

Kakashi appeared two hours late, and once he did they started working on taijutsu. Naruko's taijutsu was just barely passable, and Sasuke needed more work on his.

Vita didn't need any help, mostly because Kakashi was aware she knew more about fighting than anyone in the team.

"I think to start things off we'll try a bit of magic practice. Just to be clear, no flashy spells or anything is permitted outside the training ground unless we're on a mission outside the village."

Naruko raised her hand.

"Yes Naruko?"

"Can we do target and power practice? That's not to obvious and any observers will just see a brief flash of light!"

"That will be perfect. You can show Sasuke how to start that spell up," said Kakashi. To be honest he needed to practice that too, but he rarely had time.

Naruko immediately brought out four large fuuma shuriken and several thick nails. A few minutes later they were hammered into the training posts.

"What did you do that for?" asked Sasuke. Seemed like a waste of perfectly good shuriken to him.

Naruko ignored him and quickly started the spell. The Belkan circle appeared, and she shot twelve balls of light at all four shuriken, sending them spinning.

They hovered, but didn't go above the nails which had them rooted to the posts.

"Naruko, why don't you explain this exercise to Sasuke," suggested Kakashi.

"Okay, basically you use a small ball of your magic, not chakra, magic to hit the shuriken. The object is to keep the shuriken hovering as long as possible while keeping power to a minimum. My main issue is power control. This not only builds up your magical core, it also teaches you to control the amount of magic you use in general. Not to mention your aim tends to shoot up with it, since you have to aim carefully to hit the shuriken edge."

Sasuke saw the benefits of such an exercise, and wondered if it could be put to use with chakra as well. When he asked, it became clear none of them had considered it just yet.

Apparently this was a relatively new idea that had only been found by word of mouth from another mage.

After that Kakashi had them all use that exercise with a minor wind jutsu he knew from Asuma Sarutobi. It helped Naruko's control far better than the tree climbing exercise (which took her a week to get it right, twice that for water walking) because she was so used to it by now. Sasuke's reserves had tripled since they adjusted it with chakra, rather than magic. His linker core was now stable enough to handle medium level spells, and he was working on a higher one for later.

As for Naruko, she finally started using the occasional jutsu from her book without actually having it active. According to Kakashi, relying on the book to cast them was a bad habit she needed to break.

Still didn't help the shock they got about a month and a half after she tried one she found that had come from Itachi being hit...

* * *

Naruko had used some sort of visual jutsu, which she quickly realized was for communication. To who, she had no idea...at least until someone showed up having sensed her presence in the odd chamber.

"_Who are you?! How did you get in here?"_

Naruko stuck her tongue out.

"Like I should tell a stranger who I am! For all I know you would track me down!" she shot back.

The odd man growled, and she suddenly realized he might have a doujutsu. Her initial view of him hadn't been good enough to notice his eyes were rippled, like someone had thrown a stone into a pond. They were a slightly different shade to the Byakugan.

"_I don't know how you got in here or where you found that jutsu, but when I get my hands on you, you will regret trying it out,"_ he growled.

"Not if I make you regret threatening me first!" she shouted. And just like that, she did something Signum had shown her after the book was repaired.

She drained the man's chakra, but left just enough that he would survive the attack. Reinforce absorbed it like it had all the others (Signum and the others hadn't bothered adding to it, though she did take it with her in the event she found someone who would actually add pages or had interesting jutsu) and she vanished without warning.

Naruko immediately counted the pages in the book. The man had been quite strong. Too strong for her to survive an encounter with him at her level, even with her barrier jacket active. He had added more pages than Itachi had which spoke volumes about his power level.

Fifty pages was nothing to sneeze at, considering Reinforce automatically left out duplicate entries to the book. (Thanks to all her training the amount of pages had dropped to four hundred, though the more useful jutsu were still there.)

It wasn't until later when she tried to use one of the jutsu and Riku (who was outside the seal again...thanks to his position as Knight he had a lot more freedom now) overheard the name that she finally had an answer for the odd eyes the man had.

* * *

"Did you just say Shinra Tensai?" he asked suddenly. Naruko had been reading the jutsu aloud, trying to find one she could practice with this week.

"Yeah, why?"

"Where did you hear that jutsu name?"

"I was practicing one of Itachi's jutsu that Signum had gotten from him and absorbed this cranky man who threatened to hunt me down. I took most of his chakra so he wouldn't have a chance to."

"Did he had rippled eyes?" asked Riku.

"Yeah, I only noticed it a few seconds before I stole his core. Why?"

"Rinnegan... in this generation no less..." said Riku in disbelief.

"He looked older than Kakashi," said Naruko.

"In any case, I need to consult with Reinforce for a moment..."

* * *

Riku went to Kushina almost immediately after Reinforce confirmed his guess.

By absorbing someone with the Rinnegan directly, rather than through Signum or the others who acted as a buffer, the chances Naruko could unlock it herself tripled.

Riku knew full well that the Uzumaki clan had the doujutsu in their bloodline, but only once in a generation did anyone unlock it, and that was if they were extremely lucky.

Naruko's experience with the book and her own genetics had Riku almost positive she would get the Rinnegan before she was twenty. Absorbing an active core from someone with it increased it to make that time limit even lower, possibly before her hormones fully kicked in.

Kushina made plans to up the training schedule with Naruko, particularly when it came to chakra chains.

* * *

They had just come off another retrieval run for Tora, the demonic cat of the Fire Daimyo's Wife, when Naruko's scant hold on patience finally snapped.

"I can't take it anymore! Give us something that gets us out of the village! If I have to paint one more fence or catch that damn cat one more time, I am going to strangle someone!"

The Hokage apparently took that seriously, because he had Kakashi look at C ranks.

Kakashi thought the one to Wave would be safe enough. If not, the Knights would teleport in a heartbeat to protect Naruko.

Though the chances of anyone making it past Vita or Zafira were slim to none on a C rank mission. Maybe one of the higher ones, but a C rank was relatively safe, especially within a day's run from Konoha at top shinobi speed.

Now if only Tazuna would quit baiting Vita before the girl finally lost her temper and brought out Graf Eisen...


	6. Chapter 6

It was Kakashi's once a week assignment where they had to do research on something other than jutsu or magic. This week he had them do background history on someone in their clans.

Naruko chose Mito Uzumaki for obvious reasons. Sasuke, on the other hand, decided to find who originally owned his Device before it ended up in the shrine completely forgotten for years.

Which was why he spent most of his free time before their mission to Wave next afternoon looking through the family archives.

It wasn't until he went past Madara (who his clan had both revered and hated at the same time) that he finally hit pay dirt.

Taiyo Uchiha was the grandfather of Madara and his brother. And, it turned out, he had left a diary behind for his descendants. Sasuke had to use Amaterasu's search function to even find it, but the results would be more than worth it later.

Sasuke went back inside, made a strong glass of tea, and began to read.

* * *

(From here on out this will mostly be Taiyo's POV for the most part as Sasuke reads his many-times grandfather's journal.)

_To my many times great descendant, I pray that things have not gone as I have foreseen. I pray that you are not the last of our family as I fear. If you are, then I must bid you not to seek revenge as many of the clan would demand._

_There are no paths more treacherous than that of revenge, even justifiable revenge. It is far too easy for one so young to slip and fall off the path and into madness._

_I digress. My name is Taiyo, and I am your ancestor. Twenty years ago we came across this world and it agreed with our temperaments so well we decided to stay. Some of us have left out devices behind, some have hidden them within their own family. If what I fear has come to pass, none of the clan remains or has the ability to use them, except for you. Only Amaterasu could have lead you to this journal._

_Let me begin by explaining the Sharingan and it's _true_ purpose. Contrary to what my grandson Madara seems to believe, having grown up with the shinobi and been brainwashed by their beliefs, it is not a tool that one can use to copy jutsu and break illusion._

_It is so much more!_

_The original purpose of the Sharingan was to bolster our reflexes and control our ability to see into the future. There was, however a cost to this ability when not used with a Device to keep it in check._

_When used with a Device, such as Amaterasu, the Sharingan can be used to it's fullest potential. It can see days, even months into the future, guiding you into the clearest path. On rare occasions, such as the vision I received mere hours before I retired this night, it can span generations to deliver warnings._

_Madara seems to believe that the only way to unlock the full potential is to corrupt his Sharingan and unlocked the Cursed forms._

_There are three forms of the Sharingan, each with it's own risk if not held in check by a Device._

_The first is the base form, which you are undoubtedly familiar with. The three tomoe symbolize Past, Present and Future. This is the weakest of the three forms, being able to see mere days into the future if you are lucky. However without a device it quickly gives the user a dependency on the Future Sight in battle, and will slowly drive the user into madness. This also damages the linker core to the point that even the simplest spell will tire the user out._

_The second is the beginning of our cursed eyes. The Mangekyo Sharingan, which if what I have seen was correct, has been used on you when the family was killed. To obtain these cursed eyes, as Madara has already done, one must pervert the Sharingan's power and kill someone close to you. Using it's advanced abilities costs the user in blood. First the eyesight will go (unless the Sharingan is active), then the body will degrade in a slow cycle until death. If caught early enough, it is treatable, but if left too long the best you can do is kill the user. Using these eyes will drive the user insane much quicker than the base form, particularly if used frequently._

_The third and most dangerous form of the Sharingan is the Eternal Sharingan. The cost of the Mangekyo's abilities drop, but you must take the eyes of a close blood relative (within one or two generations) in order to retain your eyesight. Anyone who uses these eyes must be killed, for there is no return from the madness it inflicts on the mind of the user. No matter what anyone tells you, this is not the true form of the Sharingan._

_If, you my grandson, have decided to follow in the footsteps of Madara and become a kinslayer in a desire for revenge, then please grant my request and burn this book now._

_However, if you want to learn how to truly unlock the full power of your eyes and prove our clan is not cursed as I fear, then keep reading._

(Here Sasuke takes a long pull of his now cold tea, eats his dinner, and thinks. Then he picks the book up again and continues to read. If he was correct, then he might find a way to beat Itachi without killing him. No matter how much he hated his brother for killing the clan, he still loved him.)

_So you have chosen to purge the curse of our family. I am glad._

_Now, if I am correct, you have found Amaterasu's Light before your Sharingan has 'awakened'. If that is true, then you have already begun the steps to preventing the madness from setting in. Simply touching the Device will wake up your linker core._

_Let me make one thing perfectly clear. No matter what you believe about this Itachi, who I suspect is your brother, he is not fully to blame for the death of the family._

_The one responsible for the death of the clan is Madara. Shortly before I turned fifty, I gave my grandson a chance to bond with Amaterasu._

_However, the Device rejected him utterly, and instead chose his younger brother. I believe this is what started his descent into madness. I should have know then that something was very, very wrong with his mind._

_When he was a chunin, he found a jutsu that allowed the user to jump bodies by taking over the soul. This was after Amaterasu rejected him. I fear he has already begun to use it, and if so then he is still very much alive in your time._

_I must rest for now._

* * *

Sasuke got his things ready and headed to the designated gate. He had already read ahead some more before his eyes started to droop and had learned Madara was so enraged by being rejected by the Device that he destroyed all the ones he found and had 'encouraged' the family to drop magic lessons.

The Grand Fireball was originally a spell that shot flames from the device. Madara switched it to the jutsu variant, and it became the new standard for adults.

According to Taiyo, children originally allowed to learn real magic when they could shot fire without a device.

Sasuke couldn't believe how much Madara had screwed up his clan with his rage.

Once they went on the road, Sasuke pulled out the journal again and kept reading. He only vaguely noticed Naruko and Vita kept him from running into trees, to the amusement of Kakashi and Tazuna.

_Sasuke, now that you old enough, I will teach you how to fully activate Amaterasu's Light. Accessing your linker core through her (and yes, she is an Intelligent Device so she can think for herself) is simple enough. However, if you bond with her fully, you can access _all_ of her little tricks. This is because Amaterasu is a rare type known as a Unison Device, so the two of you will have to work together._

_Each Intelligent Device comes with a Barrier Jacket, and a pass phrase needed to fully unlock it for the first time._

Sasuke was about to read the pass phrase when two puddles exploded into Missing Nin. Naruko and Vita immediately moved into action while he took defensive position around the client. He had missed Kakashi being torn to pieces.

Kakashi reappeared once the girls had taken the two fools out.

"Well done, all of you. I particularly like the fact you moved into defense the second you realized that you were outgunned Sasuke," said Kakashi.

"It would have taken too long to properly attack back," said Sasuke. Especially with how interesting the journal turned out to be.

They continued on once the ANBU picked up the Demon Brothers (Vita having taken that time to show the others a little thing called the Spoils of Conquest and filching everything the two idiots had that looked interesting) and this time the girls had to stop Sasuke from walking right into the bay where the boat was.

"Hmm?"

"We need to get on a boat, and then you can read all you want," said Naruko amused.

"What sort of book has you so interested you can't put it down?" asked Kakashi. This was actually somewhat worrying.

"My many-times great grandfather's journal. He says the Sharingan's cursed and the only way to keep it from driving you completely insane is to pair it's ability with a Device," said Sasuke, turning a page.

"What?" said Kakashi, paling.

"He said that the Base form, or the first form of the Sharingan is actually a cursed form that slowly drives people insane the more you use it. However if you have a device before you activate it or received it from a willing donor the curse skips a few years and you have some time before it activates. The less you use it, the more time you have."

Kakashi started breathing again.

"Does it say what the real ability of the Sharingan is?"

"I'm not saying in front of civilians. Besides, I haven't gotten that far yet," said Sasuke off-handedly.

He was trying to memorize the activating phrase of Amaterasu's Light. It was surprisingly ironic, considering how he was originally raised by Fugaku.

He did, however, get a chance to use it when a stronger missing nin appeared to kill Tazuna.

* * *

Everything went as it always did (considering Kakashi had no time to activate his Device) and Sasuke looked at his team.

"Anyone mind if I use this chance to try out Amaterasu's full functions? I just memorized the pass phrase to activate it," he asked.

"Go for it," said Naruko.

"If you fail, I get my chance to pound this idiot in," said Vita.

"Not my problem," said Zafira.

Sasuke took out his uchiwa fan (which had Zabuza scoff at, because it looked more like a decorative piece than a functioning one, and what was he going to do with it anyway?) and calmly recited the words he just memorized twenty minutes ago.

"_**A fan that strokes the Will of Fire**_

_**Soul burning bright under the gaze of the Sun**_

_**The flames that reduce the corrupt to ashes**_

_**The blade that strikes down any foe**_

_**Light of Amaterasu, Set Up!"**_

_(Stand By Ready. Set Up.)_

Gone was the duck butt hair style, the raven black locks, and the navy blue outfit. Standing in his place was a boy about fifteen with long pale gold hair with the traditional red eyes of the Uchiha clan, only instead of a thick black line connecting them, there was a thin blue one. The tomoe were blue as well. His outfit resembled Signum's, only it was black, blue and purple and had the Uchiha clan crest on the cuffs.

But the biggest surprise was that Amaterasu's Light had turned into a blade with the Belkan cartridge system attached instead of a larger version of the fan.

"A unison device... Why the hell didn't you mention something sooner!?" said Naruko in shock.

"Didn't know until last night," admitted the boy.

"We are going to have a very long training session later..." grinned Naruko.

"Fine by me. Fireball!" shouted Sasuke. He swung the sword down, and to the shock of the adults a giant fireball formed and nearly torched Zabuza.

Sasuke put some of his recently learned spells to use (they weren't allowed to do more than target and power practice outside the training grounds) and it quickly became apparent he was outmatched by a mere genin.

Zafira carried Kakashi to the house since Zabuza scarpered off with his apprentice.

(They hung around Anko occasionally since she idolized Kushina after the incident with Orochimaru. She even had her own Device. And, in exchange for being allowed to corrupt Kakashi's team she took them out for training. End result, they know senbons are for poking people, not killing.)

* * *

Kakashi woke up and immediately noticed Sasuke was still reading.

"Why didn't you mention your fan was a Unison Device?"

"I didn't know until I read about it in my grandfather's journal."

"And why did my Sharingan take less out of me than before?"

"Were you channeling your chakra through your device?" asked Sasuke, looking up.

Kakashi nodded. It was a way to strengthen his linker core without having to activate his device. Something Naruko learned completely by accident.

"That's why. Because it's an artificial link due to a willing transplant, your Sharingan is getting used to the proper channels," said Sasuke, consulting his journal.

"...Any chance you could make me a copy of the sharingan rules?"

"I can give you a list of things to watch out for and we can possibly figure out how to use it's original power but that's it."

"Deal," said Kakashi immediately. Finding out you barely staved off madness was only a good thing.

* * *

"First thing you have to understand about Unison Devices is that they have minds of their own. If you do something to piss them off they won't work for you at all," said Naruko.

She angered Reinforce one week, and it took a month before the book worked for her again. Naturally she took a little more care in what she said to her.

"I figured that much when Taiyo mentioned that Amaterasu refused to work for Madara."

"Another thing you need to know is that Unison devices are rare. Partially because of the fact that they are harder to make than standard Intelligent Devices, but mostly because the really good ones are expensive as hell. Unison devices have a habit of powering up their partner's linker core past what they can do on their own. Very rarely do you find an ID that does the same."

Once they finished the introductory lesson on Unison devices (courtesy of Reinforce, though Naruko translated for her) they got started on the usual practice.

Target and power, or T and P practice as the group called it, was their favorite morning exercise. Namely because it warmed them up enough to really train. A few hours later they went in for dinner and a long nap. Zafira kept an eye out for any intruders.

* * *

_**WRITERS AND FANS OF FANFICTION DOT NET, WE HAVE TO GET THE WORD OUT! SOPA IS MAKING A COMEBACK, AND AS PEOPLE WHO LOVE FANFICTION WE HAVE TO SAY "NO!" TO THIS NONSENSE! DON'T LET THEM TAKE OUR FREEDOM TO READ AND WRITE STORIES AWAY!**_


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